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World Vision Launches Child Sex Tourism
Prevention Project
More than one million children are abducted, coerced or sold into commercial sex
slavery each year.
Many of these children are either sold into
prostitution to pay off family debts or are
forcibly recruited on the street. Most victims,
some as young as seven years old, are beaten and
forced to work in brothels where they are
required to have sex with as many as thirty men
each day.
U.S. citizens are among those from several
wealthy countries who exploit children trapped
in the commercial sex trade overseas and fuel a
demand for young victims.
Some Americans take advantage of prostituted
children while traveling to impoverished
countries for business, tourism and other
legitimate reasons. Others travel specifically
for a "child sex tour."
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U.S. citizens account for an estimated 25% of child sex tourists worldwide.
This figure is estimated as high as 80% in Costa Rica.
Sexually exploited children are severely wounded physically and emotionally.
Many acquire diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and almost all experience rejection by
their families and communities in addition to fear, shame and despair. Notably,
one-third of an estimated 80,000 prostitutes in Cambodia are children.
The United States has laws that prohibit sex with minors in other countries and
has recently increased government efforts to combat this problem.
World Vision Takes Action
This year, with the backing of the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE), World Vision has launched a child sex tourism
prevention program in Cambodia, Costa Rica, Thailand and the United States.
In partnership with ICE, World Vision is: training and alerting our extensive
staff and networks in these countries to assist U.S. and local law enforcement
helping to identify American sex tourists providing information that could
assist in their prosecution.
Also, in partnership with the U.S. travel and tourism industry and World Vision
offices in sex tour destinations, a strategic media campaign will aim to deter
U.S. citizens from participating in sex tourism.
World Vision will send a strong deterrence message to would-be child sex
tourists. In an effort to dissuade child sex tourists at each step of their
activity, we are placing the deterrence message in places such as: U.S.
airports, television billboards and street signs overseas airline in-flight
videos magazines, the internet
The U.S. Department of State has contributed more than $500,000 to this project.
This is the first U.S. Government grant ever issued for a project specifically
addressing this issue.
If you have questions about this project or
would like more information, please email your inquiry to
seekjustice@worldvision.org
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